Most people struggle with balancing their responsibilities at work with family, health, and other obligations at some point. However, the task can seem nearly impossible at times when you’re a business owner instead of an employee. You may fear that stepping away for even a day or two will cause your company to cease functioning and that you will return to a disaster.
Regardless of any anxiety you feel about it, prioritizing your physical health and emotional well-being is just as important as trying to get ahead as a business owner. If you don’t, your health could fail and make it difficult for you to work at all. We hope the tips below will give you greater insight into how to balance the most important areas of your life.
Cross-train Your Staff
If you ever plan to take more than one day off in a row, your staff will need to know how to perform functions that you normally handle. Each department should also have at least a basic level of understanding in how to step in to help other areas when they’re short-staffed, under a tight deadline, or have more work than the team can manage. Be sure to make cross-training a priority and complete it as soon as you can with each new employee. You can also assign the task to managers who report to you.
Consider an Occasional Digital Detox
It’s not healthy for anyone to remain connected to work 24 hours a day, even when you own or manage the company. If you’re struggling to achieve work-life balance, it could be that you have made yourself too available to employees, customers, vendors, and others you interact with daily. One of the best things you can do for your mental health is announcing that you will take calls and texts up to a certain time after leaving the office and then turn off your phone completely. Don’t forget to put down other electronic devices like your Computer or eReader as well.
Prioritize Your Workload and Delegate the Rest
When it comes to creating goals, they don’t just need to revolve around work. If you’re overweight, for example, set a goal to improve your diet and spend a minimum amount of time exercising each week. You may need to remind yourself at first that your exercise goal is just as important as any business goal, but you will eventually get better at prioritizing and sticking to goals you have set for yourself and your company.
As far as work tasks go, determine which ones you feel most passionate about and spend most of your time pursuing those. You can outsource any time-consuming task that isn’t your specialty or that you don’t feel enthused about like accounting, payroll, and data entry. Create a to-do list at the beginning of each day, putting the most important task on top and the least important on the bottom. Don’t forget to minimize distractions to ensure that you have the chance to finish all the tasks you assigned to yourself.
Remember That Perfection Doesn’t Exist
Some days you will spend 12 hours at the office and other days you will have plenty of time to spend with family and friends. The goal isn’t to always have a perfectly balanced day but rather a realistic schedule. Feel free to reach out to Business Partner Alliance today to inquire about business planning, business coaching, or other services that can help you feel more balanced in your day-to-day life.
Emory Ware